390 



THE PESTS OF GARDEN PLANTS 



THRIPS 

 Thrifts minutissima 



render them inconspicuous. But the black deposit they make reveals 

 their existence to the experienced eye, and the debilitated condition 

 of the plants they have attacked would soon compel attention were 

 there no such deposit to tell the tale. The Indian Azaleas are apt to 

 be beset by Thrips, as the Grape-vine is by the Scale, the Pine-apple 

 by Mealy Bug, and the Rose by Green Aphis. Atmospheric humidity 



is a powerful preventive, as is 

 also the promotion of vigorous 

 growth by a plentiful supply of 

 water to the roots of the plants ; 

 in fact, starvation and a dry, 

 hot air will bring Thrips as 

 soon as anything. The usual 

 and, generally speaking, the 

 best remedy is fumigation by 

 tobacco, and, in common with 

 every other insect plague, to- 

 bacco water and a solution of 

 soft soap, together or separately, will soon make an end of Thrips, if 

 carefully applied. A special preparation may be made as follows : 

 Take six pounds of soft soap, and dissolve in twelve gallons of water, 

 add half a gallon of strong tobacco water, and dip the plants in the 

 mixture. Before they become dry, dip again in pure rain water to 

 remove the mixture. If too large to dip, apply the mixture with the 

 syringe, and in the course of a quarter of an hour or so syringe with 

 pure rain water. Our illustration shows the Thrips in the larval 

 and winged state, natural size, and greatly magnified. 



CUCUMBER DISEASE. One 

 of the most terrible pests that 

 a Cucumber grower has to deal 

 with manifests itself by the pre- 

 sence of minute warts or nodo- 

 sities, chiefly on the rootlets. 

 These warts range from the size 

 of a pin's head to that of a pea, 

 and when they are present in 

 large numbers the total failure 

 of the Cucumber crop is the 



invariable result. These nodosities are caused by the presence 

 of innumerable and excessively small thread-like worms named 



X 80- 



CUCUMBER WORMS AND EGGS 

 Anguillulee 



